Imposed Burdens: A Mexican American Mother's Experience of Family Resources in a Newborn Intensive‐Care Unit

Abstract

A case study analysis examines how the availability of resources to ensure family-centered care (FCC) in a newborn intensive-care unit (NICU) affected one Latina mother's NICU experience. Case study analysis. An NICU in the western United States. A mother of Mexican American heritage, bilingual in Spanish and English. Audiotaped interviews and field notes of the mother's descriptions, actions, and evaluation surrounding family resources in the NICU were analyzed using narrative and content analysis. Inadequate resources to facilitate the provision of FCC in the NICU resulted in a complex set of interrelationships and situations in which providers and other Latina mothers, with varying personal resources, called upon the mother to fill in the resource gaps. Important areas of work of the NICU were shifted to the Latina mothers differentially based on their personal resources. These areas of work included facilitation of families' access to their babies, interpretation, information and emotional support, and elements of discharge planning and teaching. Adequate resources to ensure FCC in the NICU is highly relevant to the care of all families. Nurses must ground their advocacy in actions that help secure needed resources without shifting responsibility to other NICU families.